Apparatus for bundling sheets for fascicles

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for bundling sheets or fascicles (11) which are supplied one by one and arranged in a regular loose bundle with the flat sides towards one another. The bundle is pushed in the transverse direction thereof from a bundling position in between press plates (26, 27) which are mutually spaced and are relatively movable towards and away from one another in a strapping position. A band (38) or the like is fed in the longitudinal direction thereof and means are provided to guide the band in a loop round the bundle compressed between the press plates. The loop is sealed by sealing means after which the bundle is pushed in its transverse direction from the strapping position.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for bundling sheets orfascicles which are supplied one by one and are arranged in a regularloose bundle with the flat sides towards one another.

The invention has come about particularly for the handling of so-calledsignatures in the production of weekly magazines and similar printedproducts. The usual thing today is for the signatures to be deliveredfrom the printing press in an upright stack which is then liftedmanually into the so-called station stapler where the signatures areassembled and stapled. The object of the invention is to eliminate thismanual handling, which is both hard and tiring, and to render possiblean effective mechanical transfer of the signatures from the printingpress to the station stapler.

For this purpose, an apparatus has been created for bundling sheets orfascicles, which are supplied one by one and are arranged in a regularloose bundle with the flat sides towards one another, comprising abundling position for building up the loose regular bundle of sheets orfascicles supplied, a strapping position disposed at the side of thebundling position, in parallel therewith, in the longitudinal directionof the bundle, means for displacing a bundle in the transverse directionthereof from the bundling position to the strapping position, means forfeeding a band or the like in the longitudinal direction thereof to thestrapping position, means for guiding the band in a loop round thebundle in the strapping position and means for sealing a loop of bandlaid round the bundle in the strapping position, said apparatus havingobtained the characteristics which can be seen from claim 1.

In order to illustrate the invention, this will be described in moredetail below with reference to the accompanying drawings which show oneembodiment of the apparatus according to the invention and in which

FIG. 1 is a general view in perspective of the apparatus,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view, partially broken away, of thestrapping position in the apparatus,

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of means for sealing the bandwhich is laid round the bundle in the strapping position, shown in theempty state, and

FIG. 4 is a view corresponding to FIG. 3 but with a band in position forsealing.

In FIG. 1, to which reference is first made, a conventional conveyor 10is shown for delivering printed products from a printing press, whichare designated by 11 and in the present case are assumed to besignatures for a weekly magazine or the like. The signatures overlap oneanother partially on the conveyor but at the end portion 12 thereof,separation of the signatures is brought about and they are deliveredfrom the end portion in a substantially vertical path.

The apparatus according to the invention is associated with the endportion 12 of the conveyor 10 to receive the signatures 11 one by oneand comprises a stand 13 with a table top 13A on which a bundlingposition is disposed following immediately on the end portion 12, and astrapping position is disposed at the side of the bundling position.

The bundling position comprises an endless conveyor 14 with a pluralityof mutually separated supports 15 disposed thereon. This conveyor hasone run accommodated in the table top 13A, and the signatures 11 aredelivered in an upright position to this run of the conveyor 14 which isdriven in pace with the conveyor 10 to displace the supports 15 as thebundle grows. The bundle is straightened by means of a rail 16 whichextends along the conveyor 14 at one side thereof and is mounted formovement in the transverse direction of the bundle by means of bars 17which are displaceably received in roller guides 18 on the stand 13. Therail 16 is displaceable by means of a double-acting pneumatic cylinder19 which is mounted on the stand by means of a bracket 20.

Each bundle which is formed in the bundling position should begin andend with a stiff panel 21, and a plurality of such panels are disposedin a magazine 22 on a bracket 23 on the stand 13. The magazine 22 isarranged such that the panels 21 move by their own weight down towardsthe middle of the magazine from opposite ends thereof, and the panelswhich are in the middle of the magazine are spaced, by means of aspacing member not shown, a distance which corresponds to the thicknessof a support 15. Two carriers 24 are displaceable by means of apneumatic cylinder 25 to insert two panels 21, one at each side of thesupport 15 when this is in register with the spacing member in themagazine 22, as a result of which the one panel will be located at theend of a finished bundle of signatures 11 and the other sheet will belocated at the beginning of a new bundle of signatures 11. The conveyor10 is coordinated with the apparatus according to the invention in sucha way that the supply of signatures is temporarily stopped while thepanels 21 are moved into position one at each side of a support 15.

Thus, it will be seen that a regular bundle of signatures 11 is built upon the conveyor 14 between stiff panels 21, as the signatures aresupplied from the conveyor 10; the bundle is growing successively fromthe supply point of the signatures while one of the supports 15 isdisplaced, as a result of the movement of the conveyor 14, successivelyalong the rail 16. As will be realized, the spacing between the supports15 on the conveyor 14 should correspond to the desired length of bundle.

After a loose bundle of signatures lying with the flat sides towards oneanother, has been completed in the bundling position, said bundle havinga predetermined length, the bundle must be transferred to the strappingposition which is brought about by the bundle being displaced in thetransverse direction thereof by means of the rail 16 and the cylinder19.

The strapping position, which is shown in more detail in FIG. 2, towhich reference is now made, comprises a stationary press plate 26 and amovable press plate 27 which is coupled to a double-acting pneumaticcylinder 28 and is adapted to slide on the table top 13A. A groove 29 isprovided in the table top, and a corresponding groove 30 is provided inthe press plate 26 and a corresponding groove 31 in the press plate 27,the grooves 30 och 31 extending vertically in the middle of the plates26 and 27 and joining the groove 29 at their lower ends. At the top, thegroove 30 joins a channelled guide 32 which is shown in more detail inFIGS. 3 and 4. As can be seen from these, the guide 32 has an opening 33at one side where the bottom of the guide is bent down somewhat at 34.The guide 32 is fixedly connected to the press plate 26 and is supportedin a cantilever fashion by this plate, the guide extending in parallelto the groove 29 directly above this. Disposed on the movable pressplate 27, following on the upper end of the groove 31, is a guide 35which is curved over 90° and which does not need to be channelled butmay consist of a simple tongue.

Supported on the press plate 26 is a housing 36 in which there aredisposed two rotatably mounted pressure rollers 37, one of which iscoupled to a drive motor. A band 38 of thermoplastics material, forexample polyethylene, which comes from a supply roll for such band, notshown, which can be mounted in a suitable manner on the stand 13, isextended over a guide roller 39, rotatably mounted on the press plate 26through a slot 40 into the housing 36 where the band passes between thepressure rollers 37. The band is extended under a guide shoe 41 into theguide 32 through an opening 42 in the upper wall of the guide, and as aresult of the fact that one of the rollers 37 is rotated, the band 38can be pushed through the guide 32 to be then bent down by means of thecurved guide 35 into the groove 31, further through the groove 29 andthen up through the groove 30 and again in the guide 32 where the freeend of the band then passes in under the part of the band already there.In order that the band 38 may pass without hindrance from the groove 31to the groove 29, the groove 31 has a gentle bend at its lower end andalso the transitions between the groove 30 and the groove 29 and theguide 32, respectively, are gently rounded.

With the movable press plate 27 pulled back by means of the cylinder 28to the position shown by chain lines in FIG. 1, the bundle is pushedfrom the bundling position in between the press plates 26 and 27 in thestrapping position, after which the loose bundle is pressed together bythe press plate 27 being pushed, by means of the cylinder 28, towardsthe stationary press plate 26 to the position shown in full lines inFIG. 1. This position is also shown in FIG. 2. A band is now fed throughthe closed path which is formed by the guides 32 and 35 and by thegrooves 29, 30, and 31, in the manner described above, as a result ofone of the pressure rollers 37 being rotated. The movement of the bandis stopped when the free end of the band is partly under the incomingpart of the band in the band guide 32, and this may preferably beeffected by the driven pressure roller 37 being rotated for apredetermined period which is determined empirically in view of the feedrate of the band and the length of the loop formed by the band.

The band 38, which now forms a loop round the compressed bundle ofsignatures 11, must now be sealed and severed from the band supply, andmeans for this are disposed in the housing 36.

With reference to FIGS. 2 to 4, the means provided for sealing the bandcomprise a slide 44, which is guided for movement vertically by means ofguides 43 in the housing 36 and which is coupled to a pneumatic cylinder45 to bring about the movement thereof up and down. Disposed on theslide 44 are two press jaws 46 which are displaceable downwards into twooval depressions 47 in the bottom of the guide 32 through the opening 42for the band. The jaws 46 may be provided with heaters for heating themor may constitute electrodes in an HF circuit, in which case the guide32 forms the other electrode in this circuit. Also disposed on the slide44 is an annular holding down member 48 which is guided for movement inrelation to the slide 44 by springs 49 disposed between the slide andthe holding down member. The holding down member is situated somewhatbelow the jaws 46.

The overlapping portions of the band 38, FIG. 4, are sealed by the slide44 being pushed down towards the band by means of the cylinder 45. Theholding down member 48 is first engaged with the band and then the jaws46, on the continued downward movement of the slide 44, are engaged withthe band, compressing the springs 49. The thermoplastics material of theband becomes soft through the heating from the heated jaws 46 and isdeformed down into the oval depressions 47 while at the same time theoverlapping layers of band are fused together. As a result, a strong andsecure sealing of the loop of band surrounding the bundle is obtained.

For cutting off the loop of band from the band supply, a knife 50 isguided for displacement on one guide 43, which knife is coupled to apneumatic cylinder 51 to be imparted a reciprocating movement in thevertical direction, and this knife is adapted to cooperate with a fixedcounter cutter 52 in the housing 36 to cut off the loop of band from theband supply.

After the bundle has been strapped, the press plate 27 is withdrawn bymeans of the cylinder 28 to the position shown in chain lines in FIG. 1.During the period when a bundle was being strapped in the strappingposition, a new bundle has been built up in the bundling position, andwhen this bundle is pushed into the strapping position by means of therail 16 and the cylinder 19, the strapped bundle is simultaneouslyremoved from the strapping position. At the side of this there isdisposed a conveyor 53 for receiving the strapped bundle and conveyingthis to a store or directly to a station stapler.

The operations described above should of course be coordinated with oneanother so that they take place in the correct sequence and at thecorrect time, and this coordination can be effected in a manner knownper se by means of a timer which controls contactors and magneticallyoperated valves for the electrical and pneumatic circuits, respectively.

The displacement of the banded bundle from the strapping position to theconveyor 53 is rendered possible by the fact that the guide 32 has alateral opening 33 through which the band 38 can slide out of the guide.Furthermore, the groove 29 should not have such a great depth that theband cannot slide out of the groove on displacement of the strappedbundle in the transverse direction of the groove.

Instead of the bundle being built up horizontally, as in the embodimentdescribed, the bundle can be built up substantially vertically andpreferably in a somewhat inclined position, since the actual bundlingbecomes easier as a consequence thereof and above all the stiff panels21 can be applied more easily at the beginning and the end of thebundle. This does not alter anything in principle, however, since thebundling and strapping can still be carried out in the manner describedabove.

The strapped bundles, so-called "loaves", are easy to handlemechanically without risk of the signatures being damaged. Above allthese loaves render it possible for the manual step involved in liftingthe signatures into the station stapler to be completely eliminated.

Of course, the apparatus described here can be modified with regard toits constructional details within the scope of the accompanying claims.

It is most appropriate to effect the strapping by means of a band butprincipally it is also possible to use a wire.

In the embodiment shown, the table top is disposed horizontally but itcan also be inclined to the horizontal and form a support with aninclination of about 30° for example in the longitudinal direction ofthe bundle.

We claim:
 1. An apparatus for bundling sheets of fascicles supplied oneby one and arranged in a regular loose bundle with flat sides, saidapparatus including a bundling position for building up the looseregular bundle of sheets or fascicles on a support surface, a strappingposition on said support surface disposed along side said bundlingposition, in parallel relation therewith, and parallel to thelongitudinal dimension of the bundle, means for displacing a bundle fromsaid bundling position to said strapping position in a directiontransverse to said bundling position, means for feeding a band or thelike in a direction generally parallel to the longitudinal dimension ofa bundle in the strapping position, means for guiding the band in a looparound a bundle in the strapping position and means for sealing a loopof band laid around a bundle in the strapping position, wherein theimprovement comprises:said strapping position having spaced apart pressplates, with one of said plates being movable toward and away from theother plate to compress a bundle located between said plates, said meansfor guiding the band in a loop around a bundle compressed between saidpress plates comprising a groove formed in each said press plate and agroove in said support surface for the bundle with said groove in saidsupport surface extending parallel to the longitudinal dimension of thebundle and with said groove in said support surface extending betweensaid grooves in said press plates, said grooves in said press platesintersecting said groove and said support surface at right angles, saidmeans for guiding the band further including a guide member located in aplane that passes through said groove in said support surface and saidgrooves in said press plates but being spaced from said groove in saidsupport surface and extending parallel thereto, said guide member havingone end which extends from one of said press plates.
 2. An apparatus asclaimed in claim 1, characterized in that the guide member comprises atube with a lateral opening extending along the tube.
 3. The apparatusas claimed in claim 2 wherein said guide tube has an opening on one sidethereof and said means for feeding the band consists of pressurerollers, one of which is driven, and located to feed the band into saidopening in said guide member.
 4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3wherein said means for sealing the loop of a band laid around a bundlecomprises a first and second jaw, with said first jaw being located inthe bottom of said guide in the opening thereof, said second jaw beingdisplaceable toward said first jaw perpendicular to the band so that theband will be engaged between said jaws in said opening, said apparatusfurther including means for heating said jaws.